David Lat
David Lat | |
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JD ) | |
Occupations |
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Spouse | Zachary Baron Shemtob |
Children | 2 |
Website | Original Jurisdiction |
David Benjamin Lat (born June 19, 1975) is an American lawyer, author, and legal commentator. Lat is the founder of Above the Law, a website about law firms and the legal profession.
Lat attended Harvard University and Yale Law School. After law school, he worked as a law clerk for Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain, became an associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and later was an assistant U.S. attorney for the appeals division in the District of New Jersey.
Lat first began blogging anonymously for the judicial gossip blog "Underneath Their Robes," until he revealed his identity in a November 2005 interview with Jeffrey Toobin of The New Yorker. Shortly thereafter, Lat launched Above the Law, a website featuring news about law firms and the legal profession and legal gossip. In December 2014, Lat published his debut novel, Supreme Ambitions.
As of May 2021, Lat's main writing outlet is his Substack newsletter, Original Jurisdiction, which he describes as his "primary source of income."
Early life and education
David Lat is the son of
He attended
He attended
Legal career
After law school, he went on to work as a judicial
After leaving Wachtell, Lat took a job in the appeals division of the
Blogging
Underneath Their Robes
In June 2004, Lat
In November 2005, Lat revealed A3G's identity in an interview with Jeffrey Toobin for the magazine The New Yorker. Lat said that "[t]he blog really reflects two aspects of my personality, I am very interested in serious legal issues as well as in fun and frivolous and gossipy issues. I can go from the Harvard Law Review to Us Weekly very quickly."[10] After leaving the U.S. Attorney's office in January 2006, Lat became an editor of Washington, D.C., blog Wonkette (at the time, part of the Gawker Media network), formerly run by Ana Marie Cox.[11][b]
Above the Law
In June 2006, Lat announced his decision to leave Wonkette in order to form a legal gossip blog with Dealbreaker's
In 2012 Lat "broke the news that one of most prestigious law firms in the world, Dewey & LeBoeuf, which employed more than 1,300 attorneys in 12 countries in 2007, was on the verge of imploding."[15] Business Insider named Lat one of the 20 biggest legal stars on Twitter, calling his Twitter feed a "treasure trove of law firm gossip, employment trends, stupid law student antics, and pretty much anything else concerning the legal industry."[16]
In May 2019, Lat left Above the Law to become a managing director of the legal recruiting firm Lateral Link, although he continues to write biweekly columns for the website.[17]
Original Jurisdiction
In December 2020, Lat launched Original Jurisdiction, a newsletter/website about law and the legal profession on the Substack platform, with an interview of prominent litigator David Boies as his first story.[18] In May 2021, Lat left Lateral Link and legal recruiting and returned to full-time writing, with Original Jurisdiction as his primary outlet.[19][20][21] Paid subscriptions to Original Jurisdiction now represent his primary source of income.[22]
Author and writing
Lat's writing has also appeared in various newspapers and magazines, including
In 2014, Lat published his first novel, Supreme Ambitions, to favorable reviews.
Personal life
Lat is gay.[32] He is married to fellow lawyer Zachary Baron Shemtob.[32] They were married by Judge J. Paul Oetken.[8] Their son was born in October 2017 through a gestational surrogate.[32][33] Lat has run the New York City Marathon twice, most recently in 2007, with a finishing time of 4:43:27.[34] He walks about 25 miles a week and engages in interval training regularly.[35]
On March 17, 2020, Lat announced he was infected with
Lat lives in Summit, New Jersey.[8]
Notes
- ^ The pseudonym references Article Three of the United States Constitution, which establishes the federal judiciary.
- ^ Lat no longer actively posts on UTR, but the archives are available online.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Miller, Jonathan (January 22, 2006). "He Fought the Law. They Both Won". The New York Times. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
- ^ a b Lat, David (November 1, 2022). "Affirmative Action Is Going Down—And It's A Good Thing Too". Original Jurisdiction. Archived from the original on November 2, 2022.
By the way, I was born in Queens, New York—contrary to my Wikipedia entry, which claims I was born in Bergenfield, New Jersey, which is just a town I grew up in.
- ^ "National Circuit Tournament Champions". Extemp Central. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
- ^ "David B. Lat". Harvard Crimson.
- ^ "High School Students Flock to Annual Debate Tournament". Harvard Crimson.
- ^ "Legally Speaking Interview with David Lat". uchastings.edu.
- ^ "The Yale Law Journal – Masthead: Volume 108". yalelawjournal.org.
- ^ a b c "Interview with David Lat". Interviews with Max Raskin. Retrieved April 25, 2022.
- ^ Kaplan, David A. (July 19, 2004). "Judges: Who's Fairest?". Newsweek. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
- ^ Toobin, Jeffrey (November 21, 2005). "Scotus Watch". The New Yorker. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
- ^ "Letter From the Editors: Politics Makes Strange Blogfellows". Wonkette. January 30, 2006. Archived from the original on April 12, 2006.
- The Huffington Post, July 2, 2006.
- ^ "David Lat Heads to New York – The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times". typepad.com.
- ^ "Above the Law". December 10, 2009.
- ^ French, Alex (December 12, 2012). "How Gossip Transformed the Legal Industry". Details. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
- ^ Rogers, Abby (October 17, 2012). "The 20 Biggest Legal Stars On Twitter". Business Insider. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
- ^ Lat, David (May 6, 2019). "A Departure Memo, From David Lat". Above the Law. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
- ^ Lat, David (December 3, 2020). "What's Going On At Boies Schiller Flexner?". Original Jurisdiction. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
- ^ Grant, Jason. "'Life Is Short. Take Chances.': David Lat Has a New Career and a New Perspective After Surviving COVID-19". American Lawyer. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
- ^ Coe, Aebra. "'David Lat On Looking Through The Lens Of Legal Recruiting". Law360. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
- ^ Ward, Stephanie Francis. "'A year after his COVID-19 recovery, Above the Law founder David Lat makes some big changes". ABA Journal. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
- ^ Lat, David (May 5, 2021). "'All Rise! An Announcement About Original Jurisdiction". Original Jurisdiction. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
- ^ Lat, David (October 3, 2020). "When $1,000 an Hour Is Not Enough". The New York Times. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
- ^ Lat, David (June 18, 2007). "The Supreme Court's Bonus Babies". The New York Times. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
- ^ Lat, David (October 25, 2013). "Book Review: 'The Partner Track' by Helen Wan". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
- ^ Lat, David (April 9, 2020). "Opinion - I spent six days on a ventilator with covid-19. It saved me, but my life is not the same". Washington Post. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
- ^ Lat, David (July 9, 2020). "Op-Ed: People ask me if I've recovered from COVID-19. That's not an easy question to answer". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
- ^ Lat, David (December 22, 2021). "Op-Ed: Biden's flurry of nominations will bring generations of diversity to federal courts". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
- ^ Lat, David (June 8, 2020). "I Didn't Have to Pay a Penny of My $320,000 COVID-19 Hospital Bill. Is That a Good Thing?". Slate. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
- ^ Alter, Alexandra (December 7, 2014). "Pleasing the Court with Intrigue". The New York Times. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
- ^ Alter, Alexandra (December 7, 2014). "Pleasing the Court With Intrigue". The New York Times. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
- ^ a b c Steve Vladeck and Karen Vladeck (April 22, 2021). "Episode 18: You Guys Are Such Dads!". In Loco Parent(i)s (Podcast). Retrieved April 22, 2021.
- ^ "Zach Shemtob & David Lat's Baby Registry on The Bump". registry.thebump.com. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
- ^ "New York Road Runners Official Race Results". results.nyrr.org. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
- ^ a b Grant, Jason (March 21, 2020). "David Lat Put on Ventilator, in Critical Condition With COVID-19 Infection". New York Law Journal. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
- ^ Lat, David [@DavidLat] (March 17, 2020). "FYI - I have a confirmed case of #covid19 aka #coronavirus. If you interacted with me in person after 2/23, you can cite that fact and get automatically tested. Otherwise you might have to go to the ridiculous efforts I had to in order" (Tweet). Retrieved March 22, 2020 – via Twitter.
- ^ Grant, Jason (March 29, 2020). "David Lat Transferred Out of ICU, Taken Off Ventilator in Coronavirus Fight". National Law Journal. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
- ^ Weiss, Debra Cassens (April 2, 2020). "Above the Law founder David Lat is being discharged after COVID-19 battle". ABA Journal. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
- ^ "Man who survived a week on a ventilator tells his coronavirus story". Today.com. April 6, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
- ^ "COVID-19 TRANSCRIPT: 4/6/20, The Rachel Maddow Show". msnbc.com. April 6, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2020.